Writerly Wednesday Welcomes Karina and Vern

This Week I am departing from my usual format and I am having two guests.

Bio 

Winner of the 2010 INDIE for best Fantasy (Magic, Mensa and Mayhem) and a Mensa Owl for best fiction (World Gathering), Karina Fabian’s writing takes quirky twists that keep her–and her fans–amused. Nuns working in space, a down-and-out Faerie dragon working off a geas from St. George,  zombie exterminators—there’s always a surprise in Fabian’s worlds. Mrs. Fabian teaches writing and book marketing seminars online.

 

Blurb 

#1 When a dragon and a nun play secret agent, all Hel breaks loose!

#2  An act of Magic.  The Threat of Armagheddon.  The universes have one chance for survival, and one dragon to do the job.

#3  The magic is Faerie.  The technology, Mundane.  When they meet, the survival of the world rests in one dragon’s…er…claws.  See Vern as you’ve never seen him before!

When Charlie Wilmot, the Duke’s herald and Vern and Grace’s friend, gets mugged and his fiancé’s engagement ring stolen, they agree to find the culprit. But his courier pouch held more than just a ring–the secret device sewn into it could help others create their own Interdimensional Gap–or usher Armageddon into two universes. Drafted into an Interdimensional intelligence network, Vern, Grace and Charlie go undercover–Vern, as a human! It’s super-spy spoofing at its best as 007 meets Ragnarok!

Excerpt

Charlie started to close the door behind us, his other hand gripping the handle of his dagger so tightly I could hear the leather wrap on the handle strain, as we listened to the footsteps coming our way, slow, bored. My predator’s instincts rose; then I had a great idea. I shook my head at Charlie and winked, and he shuffled out of my way, leaving the door ajar. I settled myself with my back to the door, just inside the shadows and let the script play itself out:

 

CLUELESS MINION enters Stage Left. He pauses, hearing a noise, but does not report it. Instead, he fondles the stars on his nametag and moves toward the empty hallway, his mind on adding another. (Probably saying, “I was proactive today!”)

CLUELESS pauses at door, hesitating. He stands and, back to the door, reaches for his walkie-talkie.

Suddenly, a well-muscled and gorgeously scaled tail whips out from the crack in the door and wraps itself around his neck. He only has time to grab ineffectively at the tail before he’s drawn into the darkness. The door shuts behind him.

Pan shot of the empty hallway.

FADE TO BLACK

 

I slammed my victim on the floor and pinned him with my forelegs, then I leaned my face in nice and slow, making sure he got a good look at my fangs before he saw my eyes. “Where’s the girl?” I growled low and menacingly.

“Wh-What g-g-girl?”

Charlie crouched down by Stutterboy and glanced at his nametag. “Look, Philip, we’re in a bit of a hurry. We know Rhoda Dakota’s being held captive somewhere nearby. Now you can be a good survivor and tell us where…or you can be dinner.”

“I-I don’t—”

“Phil A. Minion.” I mused and drooled a bit for effect. I live for these moments, I really do. I licked his cheek and asked Charlie, “Can I have fries with that?”

“Why not? This is Idaho.”

After the interviews there will be trailer links and other interesting links.  I don’t dare try to embed the trailer… or do I?  Wait and see.

 

 

Sally asked me to write my own interview this time, and knowing her penchant for unusual questions, I pulled out a little tome called The Book of Questions by Gregory Stock.  My husband and I actually used this when getting to know each other while dating. (We celebrate our 22^nd anniversary in November.)  I am picking five questions at random, adapting them to writing as need be:

 

1.  If God appeared to you in a series of vivid and moving dreams and told you to leave everything behind, travel alone to the Red Sea and become a fisherman, what would you do?

 

 

Urk!  Naturally, that would be the first question I come across.  I think the first thing I’d do is doubt my sanity.  If that proved intact, then—and as a devout Catholic, it pains me, but I want to be honest—I would probably resist.  I still have children at home.  Now, if they were grown, I’d be more likely to say “yes,” especially if my husband gets into the astronaut program and heads off to Mars.

 

I wonder if there’s internet available for fishermen on the Red Sea.  Can you imagine the books I could write?  Otherwise, I’ll be ordering a lot of paper.

 

2.  How close and warm is your family?  Do you feel your childhood was happier than most people’s?

 

Absolutely.  I grew up in a stable home with parents who adored each other and loved us.  I took it completely for granted, too, until I went to college and one night, everyone started talking about how happy they were to have escaped their parents’ homes.  I loved life on my own, but I knew I was welcome back home and would gladly have run there if I needed anything; plus, my parents were just a phone call away.  In fact, I called them that night and thanked them for being so wonderful.

 

That’s not to say my childhood was idyllic, mind you, but as far as immediate family, I won the gold ring. I think that influenced my writing, too.  Even the stories where I get dark, there are strong families, if only in the background.  I do think it’s still the norm, and I definitely believe it should be.

 

3.  Does the fact that you’ve not done something before increase or decrease its appeal to you?

 

 

When it comes to writing, it increases the appeal.  I love a good challenge.  That’s how Vern (the main character in Live and Let Fly) came about.  I had heard of a dragon anthology, and I’d not written about dragons before.  Rob and I brainstormed for about half an hour trying to find something not yet done, but it wasn’t until we went down with the kids to watch Whose Line Is It, Anyway? that I realized I could write a noir-style dragon detective.  Vern proved such fun, I sought new challenges (can I mix Irish legend and the Ten Plagues?  “Amateurs” says “Yes, I can!”).  I also had challenges given to me, like the invitation to write a serial story, which I’d never done before.  That became the first DragonEye, PI novel, Magic, Mensa and Mayhem.

 

Last autumn, I decided I needed a new challenge, and Rob suggested writing a sci-fi based on The Old Man and the Sea.  I finished it in February and it was such fun!

 

Some challenges, however, do not appeal, especially technical ones.

 

4.  Do you feel you have much impact on the lives of people you come into contact with?

 

I never feel like I do, but then someone will say something about some favor I did for them or something I wrote that touched them (especially with my devotional, Why God Matters) and I’ll realize that I actually did.  Still, that’s the hand of God playing, not anything to do with me in particular.  I’m just grateful that it does happen now and again.

 

5.  If you could wake up tomorrow having gained one unique ability or quality, what would it be?

 

To be able to write scenes just as I imagine them.  Even if I then read them and think, “Ack!  No!  Burn it, burn it!”  I would still want to do this.  Sometimes, I think up the most amazing scenes, but when it comes time to write them, the words don’t do justice to my imagination.

 

So now you know a little about me.  What about my main character, Vern?

 

 

Vern is a dragon from the Faerie world who was captured by St. George and pressed into God’s service.  He’s done it all from Pope’s pet to Church champion against demigods and demons.  Now, for reasons only God knows, he’s living in our world as a private detective.  His partner, Sister Grace, is a mage in the Order of Our Lady of Miracles.

 

1.  If God appeared to you in a series of vivid and moving dreams and told you to leave everything behind, travel alone to the Red Sea and become a fisherman, what would you do?

 

Are you kidding?  Caraparavalenciana is right by the Red Sea.  I’d be going home!

 

2.  How close and warm is your family?  Do you feel your childhood was happier than most people’s?

 

Dragons are androgynous, created at the beginning of time and immortal, so we don’t have families like most species think of them.   My “family” is a drove of dragons.  We would meet every couple centuries or so, hunt together, dance, fight (sometimes, they’re the same thing), and gripe about the humans.  I didn’t have a childhood; or I’m still in it; or I’m merely choosing to have one.  Depends on who you talk to and how much I’m enjoying my day.

 

3.  Does the fact that you’ve not done something before increase or decrease its appeal to you?

 

Increase, definitely.  Being immortal gives you a taste for novelty…and plenty of time to learn from mistakes.

 

4.  Do you feel you have much impact on the lives of people you come into contact with?

 

I have saved both the Faerie and Mundane worlds so often, I’ve developed a pay scale for it.  (Not that Grace always lets me extort that kind of money.)  So, yeah.  Big impact. Colossal impact.  But I’m a dragon.  Did you expect anything less?

 

5.  If you could wake up tomorrow having gained one unique ability or quality, what would it be?

Chew gum.  I tried it once, but I had to use six entire packs and then it stuck to my teeth.  You can only imagine the time I had trying to get a dentist  to clean them.

Find Karina at:

Website: http://fabianspace.com, http://dragoneyepi.net

Blog:  http://fabianspace.blogspot.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/karina.fabian

Twitter:  http://twitter.com/#!/KarinaFabian

Google +:  https://plus.google.com/103660024891826015212

Live and Let Fly comes out on 20 April.  Try these sites to get more information or email Karina.

http://dragoneyepi.blogspot.com/p/live-and-let-fly.html

http://karinafabian.com/index.php?name=ContactPro 

 

Drop by Fiction Friday to see the House of the Week!

 

Now for the Embedding Part…
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